Evidence of meeting #93 for Official Languages in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Thank you, Dr. Frémont. Thank you also for being so frank. You'll be able to provide additional information in response to other questions.
Mr. Aito, the floor is now yours for five minutes.
9:25 a.m.
Emmanuel Aito Dean, la Cité universitaire francophone, University of Regina
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
La Cité universitaire francophone was jointly conceived by the University of Regina and Saskatchewan's francophone community. It was the outcome of a merger of the former University of Regina French department and the Institut français. La Cité has become the hub of French-language programming, research and services at the University of Regina and throughout the province.
La Cité's mission is to meet the university-level educational needs of Saskatchewan francophones, whatever their first language may be. Our goal is to provide a diversified university education as well as research opportunities into the challenges faced by francophones in a minority setting, by providing an inclusive francophone environment focused on university excellence.
La Cité is part of a network of 22 post-secondary institutions that offer training in French in minority settings, and it also plays a central role in Saskatchewan's francophone community.
The final report of the États généraux sur le postsecondaire francophone, organized in 2022 by the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne, provides a good starting point to gain an understanding of the challenges, shortcomings and realities of post-secondary education in Canada.
We work closely with Saskatchewan's francophone community. For example, in partnership with several community organizations, including the Conseil des écoles fransaskoises, la Cité researchers have been studying the process of maintaining Saskatchewan's francophone linguistic and cultural heritage. In conjunction with the Société historique de la Saskatchewan, a researcher is currently working on establishing a Fransaskois archival centre, as well as a quantitative, qualitative and cartographic inventory of Fransaskois archival materials deposited by individuals, families, public organizations and religious congregations. Another researcher is working in collaboration with the Association jeunesse fransaskoise with a view to evaluating the impact of that organization's activities on identity building and strengthening linguistic security for Fransaskois young people.
Thanks to funding received from the federal government, our programs include doctoral and master's programs as well as a variety of undergraduate and certificate programs.
We also have partnerships with other faculties when la Cité doesn't have the required expertise and resources. For example, the faculty of social work is negotiating the establishment of a bilingual bachelor's program in social work. Also under discussion is the establishment of a centre for African and migratory studies, which has developed new agreements with some 20 universities throughout Africa. We are also working on establishing an experiential mobility and learning program in the francophone community.
We are grateful for the funding provided to renovate community spaces, including classrooms, exam rooms and administrative areas, as well as for upgrading technology and pedagogy. These areas are being made available to the francophone community, thus strengthening our mutual ties.
Year after year, some 12,000 users, meaning students as well as members of the community and our own university, benefit from the services available at our various spaces for lectures, workshops, seminars, meetings and other events.
I'd like to reiterate that la Cité universitaire owes its existence to a partnership with both levels of government, which provides them with the tools needed to meet the needs of Saskatchewan's francophone community, in terms of broadening access to post-secondary education in French, especially at the university level.
Although there has been recent progress thanks to the University of Regina's commitment and management, we are still facing numerous challenges stemming from decades of underfunding and inaction to address the realities and challenges faced by francophone post-secondary institutions and minority communities. This underfunding has led to less diversified education.
In addition to these challenges, we face other barriers, such as the failure to promote post-secondary education in French and people's lack of familiarity with it. Even today, we have to combat the tendency to underestimate the benefits of a post-secondary education in French, because it is a minority language. We also have to deal with shortcomings in terms of educational resources, student services and limited research opportunities.
9:30 a.m.
Dean, la Cité universitaire francophone, University of Regina
In that case, I'll come back to this topic later.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
You'll be able to do so, Mr. Aito. I'm sorry, but this thankless task of mine is designed to give everyone a chance to speak. I will nevertheless allow you to finish what you were saying.
9:30 a.m.
Dean, la Cité universitaire francophone, University of Regina
In closing, I' d like to thank the committee for having invited me. On behalf of the University of Regina and la Cité universitaire francophone, I'd like to express my thanks for the funding and support we've been receiving from the federal government in recent years. I also want to emphasize that it must continue.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Thank you very much, Mr. Aito.
Mr. Arsenault, it's over to you now for no more than five minutes.
April 11th, 2024 / 9:30 a.m.
Patrick Arsenault Executive Director, Collège nordique francophone
Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Collège nordique francophone in Yellowknife, I'd like to thank you for this opportunity to speak to you.
My name is Patrick Arsenault, the executive director of the college, and I'm speaking to you from Chief Drygeese Territory.
Were it not for the Collège nordique, there wouldn't be any post-secondary French-language education north of the 60th parallel. Without federal government support we wouldn't be able to increase our capacity to better serve our local francophones and others who come to join us here. We are solidly rooted in our community and are keen to promote our northern identity. Our college was created by and for the community.
Federal funding allows us to respond to demand and to build student confidence in taking advantage of what's available in French in the Northwest Territories at the post-secondary level. The funding comes mainly through two programs: support funding for post-secondary studies and bilateral agreements for minority-language education. We also receive funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, to teach English to newcomers. At the moment, despite our efforts, allophone and francophone immigrants to the three territories have no available options to learn French or to improve it for immigration purposes.
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of allophone NWT parents wishing to enroll their children in a French school. And yet these parents still do not have access to French-language courses, a state of affairs that would appear to be inconsistent with the new 2023–2028 action plan for official languages. We worked hard with IRCC to develop a model that might fill this gap, and we are hoping that funds will soon become available to rapidly implement the project.
There are 11 official languages in the Northwest Territories and we are one of the five members of the Canadian federation that has French as an official language. As a result of our expertise in language teaching and our commitment to reconciliation, we have partnerships with the indigenous nations of our region for teaching two of the nine official indigenous languages.
We also developed French and English adaptive learning resources for newcomers by adding indigenous cultural referents and learning modules for indigenous languages.
For post-secondary education, federal funding is our only real vehicle for development. In 2022–2023, we had 645 students in our credit and non-credit courses. However, beyond these numbers, it's extremely important to take their impact into account. For us, just one trained person can create a new service that was not there before in some very important fields, such as early childhood. Here, everyone can have an impact commensurate with their ambitions and talents.
In 2018, we developed our first multi-year business plan even though there were no programs to which we could submit it; we nevertheless forged ahead to demonstrate not only our rigorous and detailed planning, but also the potential of French-language training in the Northwest Territories. We were pleased when, in 2021, the federal government announced additional funding for post-secondary education, making our plan eligible for funding. It really made a difference, and it is still doing so.
To conclude, I would like to point out three major challenges for us. We have to make sure that French-language programs become available for immigration in the three territories; the funds need to be permanent for post-secondary education in French, with separate categories for elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels; lastly, a financial commitment mechanism specifically for our institution needs to be looked into, in collaboration with the territories, so that the funds made available to minority-language learners can achieve their goal.
Thank you for your attention.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Thank you very much, Mr. Arsenault.
We are now going to begin the first round of questions. Each political party will have six minutes to ask questions and hear what the witnesses have to say.
We'll begin with the first vice-chair of the committee.
Go ahead, Mr. Godin.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here.
I'm delighted, Dr. Frémont, to meet the president of the University of Ottawa, where my son is a student, and very happy to be there.
I have an existential question to ask the three witnesses: How will the new Official Languages Act provide you with more tools and enable you to be more effective?
9:35 a.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Ottawa
The new act says that it will provide us with more instruments, but we get the impression that—
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
9:35 a.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Ottawa
However, it's obvious that these measures are not being implemented. I note that one of the first significant actions taken by the federal government was Minister Miller's announcement on francophone and foreign students. Let's just say that the new Official Languages Act and its consultation principle have been sidelined. The imposition of a single regime in Canada for both francophone and anglophone institutions has placed francophone institutions outside of Quebec at a clear disadvantage.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you, Dr. Frémont.
Mr. Aito, what's your point of view on this?
9:35 a.m.
Dean, la Cité universitaire francophone, University of Regina
Yes, likewise, we are impatiently waiting for proposals to appear, by which I mean concrete ones. We're waiting.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
What it means is that it's going to take two and a half years.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you, Mr. Aito.
What do you think, Mr. Arsenault?
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Collège nordique francophone
I agree with my colleagues. I think that the most important thing will be to take steps in order to be in a position to receive multi-year, predictable and stable funding. That's what will really make a difference.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
And in particular for this funding to be indexed, of course.
Dr. Frémont, I have a statistical question for you. How did funding fluctuate for francophone students at your institution between 2002 and 2024?
9:35 a.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Ottawa
I can't go back as far as 2002, but I can cover the period from about 2010 to the present day. The grant—which is calculated in accordance with a formula that we still don't understand—shows a shortfall of $3,000 a year compared to Laurentian University, and $4,000 compared to Glendon College. I don't have an answer for the Université de l'Ontario français.
So this shortfall represents a deficit, because the grant isn't indexed. With system costs rising by approximately 3% per year in the good years and more like 4% to 5% now, we have gone completely off the rails. When I mentioned a $50 million deficit, it comes directly out of our pockets, because it's money that we put on the table to carry out our francophone mission without receiving any compensation. I believe that according to our most recent calculations, the deficit this year will be approximately $78 million.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Dr. Frémont, you said you were spending money on this mission. Where are you getting it from?
9:35 a.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Ottawa
It's from our overall operating budget, meaning that there is in fact a grant. But it's money that the university would have spent otherwise, for example on research, and we did an internal realignment.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
9:35 a.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Ottawa
It weakens the whole institution.